Re: Is this list still alive?

[Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net>]

Jan Ekholm wrote:

> Or is it a sad fact that individuals are not able to create games anymore
> that meet today's standards?

That's certainly true.

> Especially not for Linux?

No - I don't think Linux makes games writing any harder.  It's arguable
that it doesn't make it any easier either...but I'm not so sure about that.

> Companies with much
> dedicated resources (Loki for instance) seem to be able to do something,
> but they merely port stuff. Maybe 99% of people are put off by the fact
> that they could never create something that would remotely even look as
> good as commercial games. People aim too high and never get anything
> completed (I speak from experience here).

Actually, looking at HappyPenguin, I'd say there were more cases of people
aiming too low than aiming too high.  So many authors produce something
perfectly competent and generally bug-free - but just too outdated to be
interesting.  That's why there are 42 versions of Tetris and 14 of Bomberman.

Also, I think we are working too much as individuals - teams of 4 or 5 people
would work better.

> Is gaming on Linux dying before it even started?

I'm concerned that people are NOT buying Loki games in the volumes you'd
expect.  I very much doubt that this is because OpenSource game are so
good.

> Personally I play games on my PS2, but still work on a Linux gaming
> project in my spare time.

Yes - exactly.

> I hope it will become truly great one day, but the most important thing is
> to get something simple out of the door and then later focus on making it
> better. But I don't ever think we'll see truly great and innovative games
> on Linux, merely ports of old games.

My *hope* is that OpenSource programmers - being free of the constraints
of Publishers and the demands of Retailers - will be able to innovate whole
new genres of game that the commercial guys don't have the nerve to risk.

My *expectation* is that we'll be up to 100 versions of Tetris by the end of
this year.  :-(

> Yes, I'm a bit pessimistic, and no, I
> don't have any Windows box for gaming all the games I would like to, so
> I'm all pro-Linux.

Ditto.
 
> Discussions? Or are we dead and buried?

Well, I *enjoy* writing games - and I'm certainly not going over to Windoze -
so I won't ever stop doing this.

I think that more of us need to join in with existing games development efforts
rather than starting new projects.

Games like TuxRacer, TORCS, Pinngus etc are *close* to being good games - but their
authors tend to run out of steam sometime before they get finished.  (I'm as
guilty of that as everyone else).  Perhaps an infusion of new blood would
help get these games over that final hump.

Projects like FlightGear that have reached a 'critical mass' of developers
are coming along nicely and are self-perpetuating.

-- 
Steve Baker   HomeEmail: <sjbaker1@airmail.net>
              WorkEmail: <sjbaker@link.com>
              HomePage : http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
              Projects : http://plib.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxaqfh.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxkart.sourceforge.net
                         http://prettypoly.sourceforge.net



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